A cognitive model is a structural organization of the cognitive processes in living beings that enlists how information from the environment is acquired and analyzed and how the decisions are made based on the acquired and analyzed information. Cognitive models include performance models that represent human knowledge and information manipulation processes. Such models attempt to represent and simulate the mental or cognitive processes underlying human behavior. These models are typically based on theories of cognition that describe how knowledge is accessed, represented, and manipulated in human minds. The processing of information in association with human cognition can be categorized into various stages such as, for example, information acquisition, information analysis and decision making, and action selection.
Training systems may be employed in the context of complex dynamic environments such as, for example, in battlefield operations, emergency management, process plant control, firefighting, and so forth. In order to apply cognitive approaches to such training systems, the cognitive information processing stages utilized in this context must attain and maintain a supreme level of functioning in order to perform well in such highly complex and dynamic environments. A decrement in the functional efficiency of processing stages can result in poor decision making, which in turn results in inaccurate and untimely action responses (e.g., on-the-field performance).
The majority of prior art training methodologies do not focus on improving the functional efficiency of each and every stage of the cognitive information processing system in human beings. To do so requires intelligent interventions and succinct feedback techniques. In addition, prior approaches are not sufficiently adaptive to vary the complexity of training scenarios based on the functional efficiency of a trainee's information processing system.
Based on the foregoing, it is believed that a need exists for an improved training system and method for measuring, evaluating, and improving functional efficiency of the information processing stages in human cognition. A need also exists for an improved adaptive training mechanism based on the functional efficiency of the aforementioned information processing stages, as described in greater detail herein.